Oregon held its spring game on Saturday. Former players like Marcus Mariota were back in town, the environment inside Autzen Stadium was strong, a big-time crop of 2024 recruits were on hand, and the Ducks finally got to put their spring work on display.

After the game, coach Dan Lanning met with reporters to break things down. Here’s everything he said, with video of the press conference at the end.

Opening statement

“Thought it was a great turnout. Our crowd was amazing as always. Really enjoyed the fact we got to appreciate the military today and what they do for our country. Overall, happy with the performance. There are certainly some things we want to clean up and fix. But, I thought you got a good indication of a little bit of the product we’ll have this season, and where we can get better moving forward.”

On whether or not it was their plan for Bo Nix to play into the fourth

“Yes, that was the plan. We were trying to play football today and get better at football.”

On being around Marcus Mariota and Jevon Holland

“I asked them some questions about their experience here as players and reflecting back on it, we got to meet a little bit. Those are two outstanding men — not just outstanding football players but outstanding men. They’re a great piece of our program. They’ve built something special here. So, we value them and we’re grateful that they came back.”

On confidence Cole Martin can be called on if needed in the fall

“Cole’s a good player. I think he’s exactly what we thought was gonna be. He had a great spring practice. He’s super competitive. I think what makes Cole special is he’s the guy who’s gonna be up here at 6 a.m., get an ice bath, doing the extra, and he knows what’s required. Obviously, he’s a coach’s kid, so he does a little bit extra from that standpoint, too. But I think he had some highlights today. I’m sure he’ll say he has some stuff he wants to improve, too.”

On how Ty Thompson handled the first quarter

“That’s football a little bit, right? We had some batted balls early, some adversity early, didn’t complete some, some slow starts. Then to be able to get some shots there at the end, I think that was big.”

On his happiness with the physicality shown by the secondary

“I think we’re a more physical team. I think it starts up front, but it certainly carries over to the backend. We certainly have guys that can make some plays on balls, which is a positive.”

On the difference year-over-year with Nix

“Just the ability to be vocal and know that he doesn’t have to wait for somebody to say, ‘Hey, go ahead and say it.’ He’s willing to do that. And he’s done a good job of that.”

On Tez Johnson’s spring

“Tez has speed. I think that’s shown up. He’s got burst. I think that’s shown up consistently throughout spring and that’s why he’s here.”

On their operational effectiveness

“No issues getting plays in, but we’ve got to operate faster. We have to have a better sense of urgency and a little more tempo. I don’t think that really showed up today like we wanted, but we’ll get that right.”

On Bryce Boettcher

“You talk about impressive people. I said, ‘I hope we have a camera following you today, Bryce.’ Because he’s headed to the park right now, pushing everybody in the locker room, saying, ‘Coach is it okay if I go?’ I said, ‘Go play the game, you’re good.’ So, you guys got to keep me updated on how he’s doing but he’s had a great baseball season. Certainly a valuable Duck.”

On how Johnson and Kris Hutson work together

“Yeah, most of our offensive players can play together. I know what you mean. Our wideouts need to be able to learn all the spots. We always talk about positional versatility — you don’t have to be one or the other. The more we can do the better we are as a team.”

On where they see Traeshon Holden best

“Again, we want guys that can be able to do multiple things and we’re gonna have different sets, different groupings that make us the best. So, we’ll put him where we need to put him. When you split teams up in a unique way, you put guys in some different spots they probably don’t practice all the time, but it’s good for us to get them that look.”

On Austin Novosad’s day

“Completed his very first ball. I want to go back and watch the rest of his performance but I thought he was calm, cool, and collected. That first series he went out there — I don’t know if you guys even realized this, but Marcus (Mariota) was calling the plays for that series. Marcus wanted to throw it every down, so I’m sure Austin was fired up about that. I thought what I saw of Austin is what we’ve seen all spring. He’s picking it up. He’s starting to grasp it.”

On special teams

“I’ll have to go back and look at it. I know almost all of our kickoffs were really consistent and through the endzone. We had one penalty out of bounds. Punts, I thought we had a couple of location issues and distance issues, but want to go back and look at it a little bit closer before I say.

On which young defensive lineman is closest to being game-ready, and what they need to do this summer

“I don’t know if I’m ready to say that. Again, I’ve got to go back and watch this film. There are 22 people out there on the field at a time, so I’ll have to go evaluate it. But, we do have some freshmen here that, if they’re ready, they’ll play. If they’re not, they won’t. So there’s certainly a chance to compete. We have some good players here. Let’s see if we can get them ready.”

On the explosive pass plays and runs after the catch

“I think that’s required to win football games. You have to have that. Explosive plays and turnovers are the biggest indicators. You get explosive plays when you can break tackles. It’s not always a 60-yard pass, sometimes it’s a 5-yard pass that turns into a 60-yard completion.”

On his biggest questions coming out of spring ball

“Do we really truly have the depth to play as many players as we’d like to play? We’re going to go back and continue to evaluate that. How do things sort out on the offensive line for us? I think we’re gonna have to take a hard look at that and figure where we’re the best there. There’s just a lot of pieces, a lot of pieces to the puzzle.”

On the environment

“That’s what makes Oregon Oregon. Our experience on the West Coast is unlike any other, and it’s an event for the entire day. Certainly helps us when it comes to having great players on campus but I think they got a sense of what the gameday environment is like at Autzen.”

On if they have positions they’d like to target in the transfer portal

“Yeah.”

On if he’d like to share them

“No.”

On the NFL Draft

“It was good, it was fun. A couple of our guys got drafted at the end of today, so I’m really excited for those guys. I’m sure we’ll have a few more that will pop. You get to see guys living out their dreams. Noah and Sala got picked up here just right around the spring game. Jordan and Forsyth just got picked, great. Those guys are all deserving players and they just need a shot somewhere. Excited to see them get their chance.”

On what the next week will look like

“Here’s what I’ll say: there’s a lot of things on my schedule. I’ve got a schedule. Where this is really tough on for the next few weeks is our assistant coaches. They’re gonna go out here on the road, they’re gonna be away from their wives, their kids, because they’re going to be on the road recruiting. And when they come back on the weekends they’re gonna be hosting recruits. We’re really grinding all the way until we get to July. Once we get to July, we’ll kind of have a deep breath.”